This week review item is the 1998 Takara Beast Wars 2 Galvatron. This time round, Part 1 will be a very long post. I am going to review all 3 modes at one shot as I had planned something special in Part 2. Stay tune!
Alternate Beast mode:
As the Emperor of the Destron, Galvatron looks fearsome in his Beast mode. His beast form is a actually a mechanical Dragon standing tall at about 20cm which is quite big for a voyager size robot. He is decorated with many accessories which will form parts of his other modes; Dragon, Drill machine and Robot.
The color scheme of Galvatron is mainly light purple (or lavender) and dark purple. There are also bits of black, red, silver and gold on some details to enhance the outlook. In my opinion, the balance and continuity of the color selection is very well thought.
From the front, the two gold shoulder plates looks a little oversize. This can be understood as the gold plates will be snapped together to form the big drill in his Drill machine mode. From the back, the end of his tail has some black 'crawls' deco that looks like a scorpion sting.
From the side, we can see that his neck and tail are of a good length. The legs in this case are extended a little longer to make him stand more upright to look like a walking T-rex form.
Details:
The head and neck is very well designed. His green elongated eyes makes him looks cunning like his character in the show coupled with a mouth that can be open to reveal his sharp teethes. On top of his head, you can find a black pointed comb that can be swing forward.
His neck is a masterpiece. They come in multiple segments like a lobster with sharp fin deco on the top and bottom. Every segments all the way to his head are ball jointed to allow some form of rotation.
The tail like his neck is made up of multiple segments decorated like his neck. The torso area had similar type of design to show continuity to this well decorated beast.
On the top of his beast form is a very nice set of playable wings. They are huge and are highly articulated (open and close). It even comes with a spring loaded gimmick to enable him to flap his wings when a button in the middle is being pushed forward. I particularly like the angle blades deco on the middle joint which makes him look dangerous.
In between his lower limbs are a set of laser turret unit that are mounted around his knee area. This make his already undernourished thighs look weaker and visually it look very unbalanced. To make it worst, his shin and calf are so twiggy that they look like chicken feet.
The end of his tail are actually a spring loaded missile launcher. The 2 black crawls can be fired upon activation through the red button at the sides.
Articulation:
The beast mode has a very high level of articulation. Almost all the parts comes with a joint that allow him to articulate at all angles. This makes him very playable and we will see more of that in Part 2.
More pictures of this fearsome beast:
Who dares to oppose Galvatron, Emperor of Destruction?
Drill machine mode:
The second mode for Galvatron is the Drill machine.
Transformation from beast to this vehicle mode is mid level. There is some initial difficulty but it doesn't take much time to figure out how each part goes. Some referring to the manual is needed in this case.
The many unique features in his beast mode are relocated to decorate this vehicle. One of it is the wings which now become a side armor.This is followed by the angle blades at the front that looks to cut through whatever that comes in his way.
The front looks packed with weapons. The big giant drill in the middle. The laser turret at the base and the angle bladed at the side. The back looks similar to his beast mode.
From the side, you can have a good view of the details.
Details:
A good look at the base of the laser turret and you can see it comes with rollers allowing him to roll in this vehicle form. The details on the side panels looks great too.
Here, you can see the shoulder plates of his beast mode are snapped together hiding his beast neck and head to form the golden giant drill. The tip of the drill is the black pointed comb that is on the top of his beast head mentioned earlier in the post.
More gimmicks here. The drill rotates upon pressing the black button on top.
Articulation:
Other than the rotating drill and the rollers at the bottom of the laser turret, there are not much to articulate in this vehicle form.
Robot mode:
Galvatron did not impress me as much as his alternate modes. Even though I would say the detail level and articulation is impressive, his size in my opinion is smaller than expected. Also, I find much difficulty to pose him standing upright mainly due to the uneven weight balance and some issues with his knee joints.
The most impressive detail in his robot mode has to be his chest plate. One eye catching detail is the shining pearl on his chest which is a real golden glass marble, not just a painted plastic piece. A search in the internet explains that the round shining marble is in fact called the Galva-Matrix which I do not know what use it has as I did not watch the series.
There are tons of junks on the back of Galvatron. One example is the giant drill that protrudes out like a eye sore especially from the side. I am quite surprise the designer did not attain to turn that into a hand weapon or shoulder cannon but let it just hang on his back.
Details coming up.
Details:
Galvatron looks angry in his robot mode. He wears a red crown and has a dark purple face. You can see him looking very pissed biting his teeth together. Although I am not favor of blue or purple face, I do find this color matches with his character.
His shoulder design is beautiful with the tip curving outwards to give him a majestic outlook. This is followed by muscle details of his biceps that reminds me of Dragonball figures and the wide sleeve looking forearm to complete the imperial outlook. The missile launchers located at the back of his arms can be rotated forward during battle.
The laser turret unit form the legs of Galvatron. We can see now the laser turret becomes his knee and it is a very smart move by the designer to make use of the beast feet to deco and form part of his robot red feet.
The beast mode wings becomes a weapon in this robot mode. Each wing is actually made up of 2 sections and when separated forms a giant crawl that can crush the Autobots without any mercy.
The giant crawl weapon can be attached to his shoulders. The earlier wing flapping gimmick in beast mode becomes a crushing movement here. When the middle button is being moved forward, the crawls comes together like a scissors.
Remember the black claws on the beast tail? They can be detached and become an axe for him to hold in his hands in robot mode.
Articulation:
Similar to his Beast mode, his articulation is very impressive. You can pose him in many ways.
Overall:
The most impressive thing about him is his high articulation with joints everywhere to make it possible to transform him in anyway. The amount of details and how each piece comes together to form each mode is also fascinating. The only thing for me to improve is the giant drill on his back in robot mode. I felt the drill can be better use as a weapon or shoulder cannon in his robot mode to give him more variety in attack mode.
Outlook: 8/10
Articulation: 10/10
Playability: 10/10
Next week, the unofficial final pieces of the 7 modes of Galvatron!!!
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